This is the latest God game from the makers of the Settlers series. You are entrusted with a band of Vikings circa 1050AD forced to emigrate from their doomed home, and must establish a whole new civilisation once landed upon the American continent.The game resembles Microsoft's Age Of Empires II with the need to construct and build whole new cultures from scratch, then keep them happy, healthy and well defended. Underneath the cute graphics are a wealth of cutaway options for resource and offensive campaign management. Just turning up in America is a popular idea, so as well as rival Viking settlements, you will have to decide how best to negotiate/fight with Native Americans and other established races as time goes on.The game isn't totally combat-driven, the townspeople must be trained in simple lookout duties, have to be clothed, entertained and fed (somewhat tediously, to the point of deciding the meals), and have other career aims to be educated in by means of a menu. Developers Funatics have injected some soap opera elements into the proceedings by introducing potential marriages and making you the peacekeeper when your Vikings fall out and morale may drop.There is nearly no blood in the game which links in with the cute look, although some may find that unrealistic for a Viking game, and it only requires a PII266 and 220Mb Hard Disk Space--great for people with older machines.As an introduction to the genre, Cultures draws you in slowly until you are hooked and playing for hours. Bear in mind though, that Age Of Empires II does the same and sports an expansion pack with more than just Vikings to command. --Kenneth Henry